Four years ago, my then 13 year-old nephew Aidan waxed eloquently in his first post at CC about a Chevelle SS454 we had found on a walk near his house in San Mateo, CA. Now that he’s 17 and is a newly-licensed driver, it should not come as a big surprise that his first car is another vintage Chevy, a ’79 Camaro Z-28. On my recent visit there, I was eager to see it and check it out. That included a short drive to this park to shoot it, which was a trip in the way-back machine. Which is why Aidan bought it in the first place.

Aidan is really into vintage stuff, especially vinyl records, and his knowledge and enthusiasm got him a part time job at a local vinyl shop two years ago when he was 15. With his savings, he paid for half of this Camaro, his parents matching the other half. The purchase was a bit premature, as that was almost a year ago, and Aidan didn’t get his learner’s permit until last summer or so. So the Camaro was a driveway ornament for quite a while, but since he’s gotten his full license this past December, it’s now his ride to school and his girl friend’s house up in Pacifica.

Aidan pulled off the car cover, and started up the 350 (5.7 L) V8. While obviously not a genuine high performance engine, given the era it came from, it did emit some nice morning music from its exhaust; not exactly snarly, but a rumbling burble.

He got out and I slid back the seat, adjusted the steering wheel angle, and got myself comfortable. For a 40+ year old car, I have to say that wasn’t difficult, as the general seating position is reasonably good. It’s fairly low, but not excessively so. The realtively upright windshield makes it less claustrophobic than some new cars. As in our Acura TSX.

The steering wheel is covered in an odd rubbery string-like material. Emulating a vintage racing wheel, I assume, but I’d rather forgotten about this. I suspect it was a short-lived fad. The two main gauges (speedo and tach) are very legible, but the others, including the gas gauge, are absurdly tiny and hard to read.

Dropping the rather primitive shifter into Drive and giving the throttle a nudge brought very familiar sensations: the classic Chevy 350/350 experience, as in millions of all kinds of Chevys from Corvettes to motorhomes. Plenty of torque low down, and smooth shifts that came soon with an easy throttle application. The Z-28 came with a somewhat shorter 3.42 axle ratio compared to the regular 350 Camaro.

The Z-28 350 was rated at all of 5hp more than the regular LM-1 350, meaning 175 hp (net). And that’s at a very modest 3800 rpm, a number that seems absurdly low from a modern perspective. Well, this was still the depths of the Malaise Era. 0-60 times were around 9-10 seconds, so Aidan will not want to get into any red light drags except maybe with with elderly Corollas and such. But that’s not his thing anyway. He just likes the idea of a vintage car, although the Camaro’s carburator’s propensity to stall out occasionally in an intersection is a bit annoying, as is the lack of a modern audio system. And a few other conveniences.

This Camaro is showing 94k miles on the odometer, and I suspect that’s likely accurate, as it’s in pretty nice shape. But that’s not to say that it didn’t exhibit a few creaks and groans from those long doors going over some dips and bumps, as well as a few other signs proving that structural integrity has come a long way since 1979. In that regard, it did feel its age.

We didn’t have much time as Aidan had to be at work soon, so we took some shots and then we headed to the nearest car parts store where I bought him a funnel, a couple of cans of oil, and an air gauge. Apparently just the night before his GF’s dad checked the oil and found it to be three quarts low, and replenished them. Aidan isn’t really a “car guy”, but he’s going to have to get in the habit of checking oil and other fluids if he’s going keep the 350 alive and happy.

Looks like the previous owner added an MSN electronic ignition (update: looks like it’s just an MSN cap for the stock HEI ignition).

My drive was very short, but it brought back memories of driving similar vintage Camaros back in the day. For their times, they steered and handled well. And they sold like hotcakes; 282k in 1979 alone, of which some 85k were Z-28s. The F Bodies were in their glory years.

I rather much prefer the clean original 1970-1972 front end, as this is sort of a cartoon version of that, but the 5 mile bumper era required drastic measures. But it’s a time capsule, and that’s what Aidan was looking for.

68 Comments

A Camaro that clean and original would get honks and waves and offers here in Rust Belt country. You are a good uncle to give him the maintenance lesson-17-year-olds are much more likely to listen to their uncles than their dads. That steering wheel had a nicely sized, grippy, black rubber cover in my Vega GT, too bad about the “upgrade.” But, I bet, an easy fix as Chevy sold a lot of them. Cool wheels!

More that I misspoke-I could tell from your text that it was a feature. Would have been better to state it that way. I just wanted to say that in its original form this was a really nice, grippy wheel, with a really handy size-a huge improvement over the big, skinny plastic steering wheels I had grown up with. Sorry to cause confusion.

That’s a great car for someone who wants an old car, but isn’t as you say a “car guy”. Its a car that almost any mechanic fix, parts both replacement and restoration parts are plentiful and it appears to be mostly stock and in good shape. I have said it before, I think that the LM-1 Chevy 350 was one of the best engines from that era, with a good ol’ mechanical M4ME Q-Jet and an 4-pin HEI ignition. Looking at the photos, it appears that car might only have a MSD cap, coil (and cover) and wires replacement parts. I don’t see the MSD capacitive ignition box in the photos, which IMO is a good thing. The stock HEI ignition is better for this type of duty and certainly more reliable.

As for the carburetor, he might want to get the car tuned up by a mechanic who is familiar with carbs. If there isn’t anyone around there who is really good with carbs (and Q-jets are more tricky than some), he could also consider sending it out to an expert to have it cleaned an rebuilt. Cliff Ruggles is one of the best Q-jet guys around and you can send your carb to him to have him rebuild it. He also sells high quality rebuild kits, as some of the parts store kits are suspect these days.

As for the difference in power, I’d guess that it was attributable to Camaro’s less restrictive exhaust and the carb’s calibration. The LM1, even in the Caprice/Impala, did punch above it’s weight class for it’s day. While today they are certainly nothing to write home about power wise, they are more than adequate to have fun in an old car.

+1 on the HEI, easily the best OE electronic ignition system (and just as easily better than most aftermarket systems as well).

There are indeed specialists in just about every kind of carburetor, including those who can make Quadrajets walk, talk, sing, and dance.

some of the parts store [carburetor] kits are suspect these days

You’re being way, far, much too diplomatic; all of them are useless garbage any more. If one is trying a DIY carb rebuild, it’s definitely well worthwhile to go out of one’s way to buy a good kit from someone who knows (and cares enough to make) the difference.

MSD ignition is one of those first mods like “EGR delete” or “cold air intakes” with the open filter element mounted in the hot engine compartment. It all sounds good and looks all pretty at first, but suddenly the engine is pinging from heat and MSD becomes known as “My Spark Disappeared”.

Daniel Stern

Posted January 20, 2019 at 3:08 PM

“My Spark Disappeared” FTW. I didn’t have good luck with MSD boxes, but their coils used to be pretty good. Then everything got outsourced to the People’s Republic, and, well…

Okay Daniel, I was being nice, this is a family site! I am going to be overhauling a Q-jet soon, and I will be using Cliff’s kits. I may also get him to rebuild my base plate too. He is one of the most reputable Q-jet builders around, which is why I recommended him. He also has written one of the best books on Q-Jets, at least that I have read.

He offers a rebuild service – send the carb to him, he rebuilds it to factory specs, and does any upgrades/fixes needed. This is perfect for a CA emissions car that needs to pass a sniffer test and kept stock. Plus it costs less than buying a new aftermarket carb. IMO, the Q-jet is one of the best carbs ever made. Lots of people have a tough time with them, but get one running right and it’s a far better carb than the Edelbrock or other aftermarket carbs that people love to swap in place.

The best? They were prone to the coil firing through the cap into the advance weights and springs, pretty much welding everything together with rust. I put MSD ignitions on many vehicles, including 3 of my own, with none of them ever failing, and the coil wire being destroyed if there is any flaw in it at all. The first thing I did when I bought my ’79 Trans Am was to take apart the distributor and polish all the advance mechanism to get it to work. Then I put an external coil on it to prevent it from being trashed again. Eventually, I replaced the distributor with an MSD set up and the car ran better without any problems other than the coil wire failing about once a year. I made a bunch of them and put them into the glove box so I would have a 30 second fix.

I had an enormous amount of experience of the LM-1 with the Turbo 350 in our taxi fleet. My dad bought an Impala so equipped in 1979. It went well over a million km in taxi use, on LPG. All I ever did was a cam chain (which it really didn’t need) and valve seals a couple of times. I think I put three transmissions and a rear end in it.

Rock on! Nice Camaro. I drove the Camaro and Trans Am version a lot back in the 1970s. My Brother had a thing for F bodies. About the stalling, which I’m guessing occurred when the car is cold. On the air cleaner snorkle there is a round vacuum operated “motor.” This allows warm air from the exhaust manifold shroud to enter the air cleaner when the engine is cold. The leaner carb calibrations made this necessary. When warm, it closes the ducting to allow the motor to breathe through the cold air intake. This vacuum device is inexpensive and easy to replace but is often overlooked. Keeping an eye on all fluid levels can become a habit at gas stops. It’s hard for a youngster to realize it’s importance of this if their family has always had new or late model cars. If you grew up with a “beater” or old car family it’s second nature. I hope your nephew enjoys the Camaro!

Jose,
I remember that vacuum-operated “flap”. Many moons ago I had an ’82 Malibu that stumbled when it warmed up. It was that dumb flap. I think I just blocked the vacuum line and never missed it. He should also check the charcoal canister on a car that old. Mine had sucked charcoal into the carb and clogged the catalytic converter. Good times!

I recognise that shift lever and knob as similar or identical to that in a childhood babysitter’s ’77 or ’78 Monte Carlo. A close look at the interior shot here shows a regular P R N D 2 1 quadrant—one of several different labellings GM horsed around with for some reason. My folks’ ’78 Caprice had P R N D L2 L1, their ’77 Cutlass had P R N D S L, and the aforementioned Monte had P R N 3 L2 L1.

My 1990 TransSport had an umlaut over the N. N’s don’t ever get umlauts in German. Anyone have an explanation for that?!!!

Oh, speaking of old GM cars, and twelve years older GM cars, and really all cars this age….the parts problems I started to have, well the one, are like the wiper module. When it was hot out and raining the windshield wipers had a mind of their own. Could be a bit scary. Cool and rainy, OK. Apparently it’s an underhood module on the (buried) firewall with some chips in it which I never found a source for. I did find a couple of videos on YouTube showing how to fix the pickup truck version by heating a couple bits with a soldering gun.

The big bits are easy. It’s the little stuff. On the other hand you could buy aftermarket interior and exterior door handles for the TransSport. I think they broke so often early on that replacements were made when the cars were common, and probably used by a lot of GM vehicles.

One day I opened the car door and smelled the unique odor of burnt wiring. Uh-oh. Everything seemed OK. Eventually I found that the slider for dimming the panel lights was frozen and no doubt toasted. Fortunately it was set around the middle. I never tried finding one.

The very easy to replace heater core failed twice over the years. The first time it was $400. The second time I asked at the GM (no Pontiac left) dealer and they wanted $900. A couple other places didn’t want to work on it because it was too old. Probably they didn’t realize it was one of the easiest ones ever. One recommended a small shop. He charged $300. His office had pigeons in cages.

The other thing that was bad, (and I’m sure applies to all cars) from age was the door seals. They shrink. The tail gate and both front doors (which curved into the roof) leaked, and I’m sure there was also noise getting in. Maybe Camaros are like 1961-3 Lincolns and there is enough interest that there are reproduction parts for stuff like that.

Daniel, I own a 1978 Z28 (which has the old 1970 style gauge cluster) with a CBC (Chevrolet Buick Combined) 350 automatic transmission and the quadrant is P R N D L2 L1. What makes this so interesting is the quadrant is on the instrument cluster between the tachometer and speedometer which means the indicator needle is moved by the backdrive linkage to the steering column that operates the neutral safety switch and transmission lock. The window next to the shifter on the shifter plate is completely blanked out . As the featured car shows in 1979 the quadrant was moved next to the shifter handle. I always found this arrangement somewhat unusual.

Nice car (though I feel the blue on white is more appropriate for a TransAm than a Camaro). And it’s great to see a teen buying and driving an older car. Based on the preferences of at least one of my slightly older kids, I find the stereotype of modern youth being interested only in video games and smart phones is wrong. So I’m glad to see more evidence of the error in that thinking. I just hope he can afford the gas … and stays off Skyline on weekends. I wouldn’t have trusted my 17 year old self with a Z28 in the Bay Area Hills. I sold my second gen F Body when gas hit $1.25 a gallon; that was 1981.

While no rocket ship, these were great performance numbers for the time. And still quick enough to out run some modern average cars. That said, keep in mind CA emission cars had lesser performance, and of the above listed tests only Hot Rod likely had a CA emissions car. Additionally, unless this subject car is in great tune, it likely won’t reproduce these numbers.

That said, while something more modern and run of the mill cars could easily beat this car in a race, that’s not the point. I was daily driving my Malibu around this summer/fall and it has a lot less performance than this Camaro. While slower than most cars on the road today, the abundance of low end power doesn’t make it noticeable. And despite the lack of performance, and all the idiosyncrasies of the old car, it was way more fun to drive than the modern cars I would drive the rest of the day from our work fleet. Some like the old car experience, some don’t I personally love driving old cars, faults and all.

Glenn M. Swisher, Jr.

Posted January 21, 2019 at 3:39 AM

Vince, I have a copy of the Car & Driver article you alluded to. It was written by Don Sherman and was published in the March 1978 issue. I want to point out as Don did the test car was a non AC car with a 4 speed. An automatic car with AC would likely be a few ticks slower in both 0-60 and the 1/4 mile.

VinceC

Posted January 21, 2019 at 7:22 AM

Glen, you are correct that the C/D tested car had a 4-speed and no A/C. In fact other the Hot Rod test, the other 3 Camaros had 4-speeds. However, other than the C/D tested car, all had A/C. And the Hot Rod tested car (which I suspect was CA emissions) was an automatic, had A/C and 3.42 gears just like the subject car. I disclosed 4 tests results to account for variability and to give a more accurate picture of these cars performance when new.

Just speculating here, but a lot of younger smog techs may not know what’s stock and what’s not, unless it’s a huge air cleaner or tube headers, so if the EGR valve works, the gas cap holds vacuum and it passes idle speed and tailpipe tests it may be good. When I smogged my ‘74 Alfa in ‘86, the gas station guy in Milpitas opened the hood, looked at it for 30 seconds, and said “I don’t know anything about Alfa’s RO-meo’s, looks good” and closed the hood. In Berkeley or Palo Alto they may have looked closer. On a 40 year old car Aidan may get lucky.

Best of luck to him! Carb issue sounds like a bad float or clogged fuel filter. The bronze plug filters mounted in the fuel line on the front of the carb always seem to fill up with sediment from the fuel tank if tank is rusting or hasn’t been cleaned. All an easy and inexpensive fix.

Gorgeous car and I’m quite jealous! I hunted high and low for a second gen F body for my first car but none were even remotely in this kind of condition, and my overly picky self was snobbily looking for a Trans Am or Formula, and my parents had none of it every time I asked to check one out. I used to dislike the Camaro between 74-81, but I think it was just because they were semi-common into the 90s when I was a kid and too familiar, I’ll never like them as much as the 70-73 or Firebirds but they are pretty damn cool in their own right.

Low horsepower but with inherently decent handling and a punchy low end and great looks these are now great “slow car fast” cars to enjoy in modern traffic that isn’t friendly to fast car fast cars. Perfect for the kids!

IIRC, the easiest way to tell the year of a late seventies return of the Z28 was the hood scoop. The first year didn’t even have a scoop, but just a decal. The next year, there was the closed, forward-facing scoop like the feature car. The last hood scoop before the model change was rear-facing and had a flapper-style, vacuum-controlled opening.

Cool car; I’m sure he’ll have fun with it. A question on the interior, though, since I’m old enough to remember when these were new but somehow never rode in one. What’s that slot next to the lighter? Warning lights? Knock-out panel for something optional?

The 8 track player offered on these cars was built into the radio. The 8 track slot was where the radio dial was. When using the 8 track player the dial swing inward. It was pretty innovative because despite the larger over all size of the radio( a bit fatter) the part that went through the trim slot was the same size as the AM, FM-AM and Cassette versions.

The radio comes out through the back and is held on to the dash by a small bracket in the rear(support) and bolts on the volume and tuning shafts.

I had a original Delco AM radio in my 1980 Malibu which I switched out with a 8 track player from a 78 Camaro.

Here is what the Delco 8 track player/radio looked like (internet pic)

I can quickly think of 3 or 4 Camaros / Firebirds in my own history, cars that friends had. I remember a 1970 1/2 blue Camaro which had lots of get up and go but I am remiss at not remembering if it had a 327 or a 454 in it. It showed many a taillight to pretenders. I could have bought a 1980 or so Firebird with a six in it and in poo brown, but I passed. There was also a 78 or 79 a lady friend had that we went out in a few times. Ahh memories of the seating arrangement in that one. I almost forgot about a white ’76 another girl owned that I helped her break into when she locked herself out and the thing was running. I guess Camaros and Birds were pretty common back then but I liked those cars for their styling.

I find it interesting that a young lad would pick up one of these. I respect his choice and I hope it gives him some good reliability. My sons would never even consider anything not new. When we see classics at car shows my boys remind me how unsafe they are (were) in comparison with today’s cars. Hard to disagree but there was nothing like the cars we enjoyed in our youths.

Rebuilding a Qjet (any carb really) is not especially difficult, if you have a good manual to go by and you take your time. As some others have said many of the rebuild kits that are sold now are junk. I admire your nephew’s willingness to rely on a forty year old muscle car as his primary means of transportation. If nothing else keeping the Camaro on the road will teach him patience and he will learn that life does not always go the way you want it to. Good luck to him and may he experience happy motoring.

My dad bought a brand-new 1979 Z-28, using his high school graduation money as the down payment. Apparently he hit a deer while doing about 110, which pretty-well did it in. Now, he’s been searching for a ’79, but he’s looking for one as close to his (he still remembers all the particulars of it) as he can find.

This isn’t the right color, but I’m certain Dad would still be a bit jealous about this car.

I could not possibly have been less interested in this car in 1979. But in 2019 I love it.

When I was Aiden’s age I was 100% enthusiasm and 0% skill. A car of that era is as good as any for developing some moderate skills with wrenches. I hope Aiden develops a long and happy relationship with this car. And that he can avoid the kinds of stupid accidents that some of us got into at that age.

I have seen and photographed Glenn Swisher’s 78 Z-28 and have been woefully delayed in finishing a CC on it. It is a gorgeous car with a great story and I need to kick myself in the behind and get it done.

This vintage Camaro/Firebird had the sad effects of the worthless bumper standards – the first models of this generation body style had very tight and minimal (and useless) bumper that really kept the bloated design in check with a lightness. Once those big bumpers were added, the whole thing looked bloated.

While these look more overwrought in appearance to the 70-73s, they were a huge improvement over the 74-77s that wore the girder bumpers. Nothing else on the market, save for the Firebird cousin, had better 5-mph bumper integration.

Maybe Chevy should have done as Pontiac did for 1977 and come up with an entirely new front end to go with the new bumpers. Retaining the 70 RS theme reminds one as much of what was lost as much as it does to preserve a theme, which they’d promptly abandon in 1982 anyway.

The great thing about this car is with a little work and a fair amount of cash, it can be made into a stock blocked high 13 or very low 14 second car. Exhaust upgrades can and do make a huge improvement on these cars. A replacement intake manifold, a cam and lifters, etc, and I would put a timing chain into it and probably a water pump while the front of the engine was apart. 3.73 gears that most Z-28’s of the later 2nd gen era would help too.